Kate Verkooijen, our representative for ACWW, is supported Women Walk the World by hiking from Weymouth to the ACWW Triennial Conference in Warwick in August 2016. Several of our members met up with Kate near the end of the first leg of her journey, where they had a delicious lunch at Coffee 64, Maiden Newton. Some members then walked a little way on with Kate before leaving her to complete the walk to her overnight stop at Chetnole.The photo shows, left to right, Alethea Smith, Rosemary Lander, Melodie Baines, Kate, Ann May, Do Ranson and Penny Seaward.******Please see Kate's account of her travels below......she has asked that donations to mark her walk be sent to ACWW.

​A Walk on the (not particularly) Wild Side…

When Valerie Stevens, ACWW European Area President, came to Wyke Regis WI (Dorset) in January 2016 to tell us about the places and people she’d visited during her term of office, she asked whether any of us were planning to go to their Triennial Conference in August. As a long time WI member, I knew, of course, about ACWW but mostly only for their ‘Pennies for Friendship’. The Triennial is held every 3 years and for the first time in many decades it was coming to the UK, at the University of Warwick. It sounded like a great opportunity to find out more about ACWW itself and meet fellow members from across the world, so I signed up. Now I just needed to figure out how to get there.

One of the things I’m hoping to do when I get time is to walk some of the long-distance footpaths, maybe, who knows, even the Camino to Santiago. A trip from Dorset to Coventry (where the University of Warwick is based) would provide the chance to see whether this ambition was, well, a bit too ambitious! Knocking on towards sixty, somewhat unfit and carrying a few too many pounds (the product of too many WI cream teas), was I biting off more than I could chew? But then, as everyone knows, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step… and it wasn’t as far as that to Coventry.

Now walking is something that ACWW knows a thing or two about. Every year they hold a ‘Women Walk the World’ Day (April 29th in 2016). The idea is that at 10am all over the world, women start to walk, in organised groups or just at home, so as the sun rolls on for 24 hours there is a wave of women walking around the globe. Neat! Except, of course, I had missed this year’s Dorset event even though there was a cream tea promised at the end of it!

I would follow the Macmillan Way, a long-distance path from Abbotsbury in Dorset to Boston in Lincolnshire. At Banbury, I would veer off north-west to Warwick and Coventry. All together it would be about 160 miles, though I didn’t measure it too carefully. I reckoned I might do about 10-15 miles a day over two walking weeks. I’d book places to stay beforehand as the route lay through the Cotswolds and they might be booked up if I just left it to chance. In the end, some days might be nearer 20 miles, but I figured that would be alright. I would rest at the weekends when husband Bernard would meet me. As you will doubtless guess, it didn’t take long for the WI to hear of my plan.

Everyone was keen to sponsor the walk, but as I felt a bit uncertain about whether I might have to jump on a bus if it got a bit much, I suggested that they make a donation to ACWW instead. That way I wouldn’t feel too guilty about the bus. Half the committee also settled on meeting me at lunchtime on the first day. I was an hour late, which caused some consternation, but in my defence I had climbed from almost sea-level over the Dorset Ridgeway, scrabbled under three electric fences, missed a turn and had to ‘back track’ around a couple of wheat fields. Penny had made a terrific poster showing me striding out. Photos were taken and some of the group joined me for the next couple of miles. Then I was on my own...

The grain harvest was in full swing and thick stands of maize towered above me. Hares and deer bounded across the fields and swifts screeched overhead. On the bridges, old men leaned with their dogs. Impossibly picturesque villages of Cotswold stone basked in the noonday sun. The countryside was glorious and the village post offices sold ice-cream. Bliss!

Walking meant that I was carrying everything on my back and I had pared it down to a minimum, or so I thought. August was turning out to be a hot and humid month, with just an occasional breeze. It soon became clear I was carrying too much. As the forecast showed no change I left my coat with Bernard at the first opportunity. I cut my bar of soap in half and carried only a very small bottle of water. The umbrella though was useful against sun or rain and my walking pole fended off the brambles and nettles.

Good scale OS maps and years of map-reading experience are not always effective when footpaths are not marked on the ground and I was soon back-tracking more than I liked. When, on the fourth day, a series of footpath diversions found me back where I had started an hour before, a new plan was in order. I would forsake the footpaths and strike out on the very minor roads. These went where they said they’d go and on most I met no traffic at all. Best of all they pretty much followed the same route, so I could stay at the same places. This didn’t always work out though, and on a couple of days I did have to detour and catch the bus. Now the walking was going so much faster and the scenery was just as beautiful.

So I was making my way across country… Horsington, Trudoxhill, Sherston… through places I had not heard of, I was discovering my own backyard. And a variety of places to stay; country pubs, a shepherd’s hut, youth hostels. Visiting National Trust and English Heritage sites, Farleigh Hungerford Castle, Snowshill Manor; Chastleton House (now famous as Wolf Hall). Everyone I met was so welcoming and helpful. My especial thanks though go to Barry, who very kindly and unexpectedly cooked me some dinner when I hadn’t anticipated that there would be nowhere to eat.

Leaving the Cotswolds, the landscape grew less hilly and my route led along the canal. I initially thought that this was great! Easy walking and a clear path to follow, but soon I was feeling a bit hemmed in. Hedges lined the canals and it wasn’t possible to see the countryside anymore. Still it was interesting to see the narrow boats negotiating the locks and puttering up and down. At Banbury I walked up to the Cross, but as there was no lady on horseback to be seen, I had a Banbury cake instead. No such delicacies in Leamington Spa and Warwick, so best foot forward along the Cotswold Way to Kenilworth, by far the best marked and maintained footpath of the whole trip. I recommend it!

Eventually the walking was finished (I would say ‘all too soon”, but perhaps not!) and Coventry was in sight. Leaving on August 4th, I had walked overall for 10 days (not counting the weekends) and was arriving on conference registration day. A few calculations showed I walked just over 120 miles! Not all the way, it’s true, but not too shabby either. That worked out at around 12 miles (or around 6 hours walking) a day, which was within my original target. My legs and feet were holding out well – no blisters and not too many stiff joints in the mornings. Fantastic! It was time for the conference to begin.

What to say… 600+ women from around the world, debates, laughter, resolutions, meeting new people over dinner. The formal parade of flags, information sessions and stands, plenary sessions, the raffle and the ‘bring and buy’ craft tables. Tea and biscuits every morning and afternoon. Line dancing with the Malaysians, community singing with Sri Lankans, Waltzing Matilda with… well, guess who! Altogether six jam-packed days, from 9am to 6pm with dinner to follow. Can you tell I enjoyed it? And I certainly knew much more about ACWW now! Valerie Stevens was there, of course, handing over the European Area Presidency to the newly elected Margaret McMillan from Northern Ireland. The next Triennial is in Melbourne, Australia… Mmmm… I wonder…..